Import unit prices for wool have jumped more than 40% within a single year, while on the export side only garment categories have managed to hold onto pricing power. This contrast defines the core tension in China's wool textile industry during the first eight months of 2026. According to China Customs data, total trade in wool textile raw materials and products reached US$11.7 billion (approximately RMB 80.5 billion), up 12.9% year-on-year. Beneath the headline growth, profit distribution across the supply chain is undergoing a dramatic restructuring.
Import Side: Prices, Not Volumes, Are Driving Growth
The import data tells the clearest story. In the first eight months, imports of wool textile raw materials and products totaled US$3.14 billion (RMB 21.6 billion), surging 33.67% year-on-year. Within this, imports of wool and early-stage processed wool reached US$1.87 billion, up 48.19%, while import volumes were only 213,000 tonnes, a mere 4.56% increase. The massive gap between value and volume points to one conclusion: the inflation in import value is almost entirely price-driven, with the average import price reaching US$8.77 per kilogram, up 41.73% year-on-year.
This means raw material costs for domestic wool textile enterprises have been pushed up by more than 40% in just one year. For worsted, woolen, and wool knitting companies that rely on wool as their primary input, this directly compresses profit margins. Notably, in August alone, the average import price of wool fell to US$8.96 per kilogram, a month-on-month decline of 7.5%, with other animal fibers also recording a 7.5% sequential drop. Whether this marks a price turning point requires further observation, but at minimum, the previous one-way upward pressure has seen a temporary reprieve.
Export Side: Volume-Price Divergence, Garment Price Hikes Offset Shipment Declines
On the export side, wool textile raw materials and products totaled US$8.56 billion (RMB 58.9 billion) in the first eight months, up 6.82% year-on-year, showing an overall pattern of volume-price divergence. Most major wool textile product categories saw export volumes increase, but woven wool garment exports totaled 11.06 million pieces, down 9.49% year-on-year.
The decline in shipment volume did not drag down export value, and the reason is price. The average export price of woven wool garments reached US$48.65 per piece, a sharp year-on-year increase of 18.23%. The unit price increase effectively offset the revenue loss from volume contraction. Across products from early-stage processing to mid- and downstream items, export prices fluctuated within a range of -5% to 6% year-on-year, indicating that most categories lack smooth pricing power. The high unit price increase in garments is a structural exception.
For buyers, this means suppliers of woven wool garments are actively or passively filtering orders—low-priced, low-value-added orders are being abandoned or redirected, and production capacity that can absorb high raw material costs is concentrating toward mid-to-high-end products. For factories, whether they can reasonably reflect raw material price increases in their quotations directly determines their willingness to take orders and the survival of their margins.
Industrial Transmission: How Cost Pressure Is Being Absorbed
The sharp rise in wool raw material prices earlier has not transmitted smoothly downstream. Most export products have limited room for price increases, with only some garment categories achieving price gains. This asymmetry means midstream weaving and dyeing-finishing segments bear the greatest profit squeeze.
From the perspective of industrial clusters, clusters focused on worsted fabrics and wool knitting face two choices: first, lock in raw material costs upstream through long-term agreements or futures tools to hedge against price volatility; second, enhance product value-added downstream, using design, functionality, and brand premiums to cover raw material increases. The former is defense, the latter is offense, but both require capital and order scale, and SMEs have notably narrower room for maneuver.
Going forward, international wool market trends require continuous tracking. Movements in Australian wool auctions, climate and production expectations in major wool-producing countries, and exchange rate fluctuations will all transmit to domestic enterprises' cost sheets through import prices. The August sequential decline is a positive signal, but a single month's data is insufficient to establish a trend.